title: Hyper-spectral confocal nano-imaging with a 2D super-lens.
abstract: Achieving sub-100 nm resolution over a broad visible bandwidth has long been an elusive goal in the nano-imaging of cell-surface interfaces. While metamaterial super-lenses and near-field optics have been previously demonstrated, these techniques can operate only at one wavelength, and do not provide accesses to the cell-surface interfaces. Here, we investigate a broadband 2D lens comprised of an oblate spheroidal dielectric cavity embedded just beneath a planar metal surface. The lens operates by adiabatically focusing asymmetric plasmon energies at sub-100 nm scale on the low-index side of the thin metal film formed between the cavity top and the planar metal surface. We then proposed the use of our lens in a high-resolution far-field confocal microscopy setup. Due to the surface-field nature of our lens, the presented system holds potential as an indispensable tool for cell-surface interfacial studies that require sub-100 nm hyper-spectral imaging analysis.
authors.affiliation: National University of Singapore, Department of Physics, Science Drive 3, 117542, Singapore.
authors.forename: Kiang Wei
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kho
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zexiang
authors.forename: Olivo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Malini
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007909:Lenses; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*